The Sydney family of a 15-year-old who drowned during a school excursion has been awarded almost $500,000 compensation.

Nathan Chaina's family sued Scots College and the Presbyterian Church for over $100 million, claiming emotional and financial ruin.

The teenager drowned when he fell into a creek on a school hiking trip at Kangaroo Valley in October 1999.

In 2001 a coroner found the school was responsible for his death because it ignored bad weather warnings, had inadequate communication with the students on the trip and did not train them properly for the hiking trip.

Parents Rita and George Chaina lodged a civil case in 2002 in the New South Wales Supreme Court arguing the tragedy changed their lives and the life of their other son.

They said they were traumatised and suffered from depression, plus legal fees related to the case caused them financial hardship.

Mr Chaina also argued he was working on inventing a revolutionary new laundry detergent that would have earned him millions of dollars - but lost interest in the project after his son's death.

Today, Justice David Davies awarded the family just over $492,000 - a fraction of the amount they wanted.

Free trade is the oldest argument in federal politics and the issue that literally defined the federation era but opposition exists to the TPP, courtesy of the Investor-State Dispute Resolutions clause.